T-Rex
The T. rex's''' real name, "Tyrannosaurus Rex" , means "tyrant lizard king". It was a ferocious carnivore that lived at the end of the '''Cretaceous period (about 68-65 million years ago). It hunted large herbivores or scavenged their dead carcasses. It died out in the infamous K-T extinction, 65 million years ago. T. rex had a great brain for a dinosaur, but it's brain wasn't much bigger than a fully grown man's. T. rex needed a great brain to make it good at seeing, hearing and smelling. Its famously small arms are a result of millions of years of evolution. Over time its head became larger and more suited to catching and crushing struggling prey. With this new technique it had barely and use for its arms. However we see small arms with close relatives such as Raptorex, Alectrosaurus, Daspletosaurus, Albertosaurus, and Tarbosaurus. Height = (12-20 feet) Weight = 7 tons Diet = Carnivore Length = 40 feet long Main Prey = Hadrosaurs, Ankylosaurs, Sauropods, and Cerotopsians Skull = 4.5-6 ft (1.4-1.8 m) Arm = 3 ft (1 m) Teeth = 40 cm (16 inches) Prey T. rex's usual food would've probably been hadrosaurs such as Edmontosaurus, as they were easy prey. Tyrannosaurus, despite its huge weight, is thought to have a top speed of 40 km (25 miles) per hour, and many hadrosaurs were not very adept at defending itself. It may have also attacked ankylosaurs such as Ankylosaurus the heavily armoured herbivore. However, Ankylosaurus could easily defend itself with its tail club and fractures sustained from these battles have been found on dead T. rex fossils, suggesting that these could prove fatal. It also hunted and fought with the tough horned ceratopsians like Triceratops, pachycephalosaurs like Pachycephalosaurus, and sauropods like Alamosaurus. Largest Carnivorous Dino? T. rex was believed to be the largest carnivore ever to live on land up until the discovery of Giganotosaurus, which was once thought to be bigger until a closer analysis of the bones revealed T.Rex had a larger build and was heavier and taller. After that, Spinosaurus was found to be the the longest land dwelling carnivore ever to walk the Earth. T-Rex is the 2nd largest carnivore dinosaur ever found, smaller than Spinosaurus, but may have been bigger than Giganotosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus. However, T.Rex has a stronger bite force and more brain power than any other large theropod, so a T. rex would most likely have killed any of those dinosaurs if it had faced them. Also, no complete Spinosaurus skeleton has ever been found, so the competetion for biggest land carnivore is too close to call, currently. An adult T. rex had an average length of about 40-43 ft. and maxed out at about 45-49 ft. In Popular Culture T. rex has thus become an icon in popular culture. T. rex was one of the main "villains" in the hit movies Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park (it was replaced by Velociraptor and Spinosaurus in Jurassic Park /// )' '''and in King Kong,'' Kong is shown battling a tyrannosaur of some kind (presumably a V. rex). T. rex was shown as being larger than it truly was, and capable of moving objects which it would not possibly have been able to in real life. A fictional decendant of T. rex was also depicted as a villainous creature "V. rex" (Right) in Peter Jacksons remake of King Kong. Kong manages to kill 3 of them in a battle to save Ann Darrow, the actress he is smitten with, however, that prablaby wouldn't have been the outcome in real life. T. rex is also depicted in documentaries such as Walking With Dinosaurs, Jurassic Fight Club, Beyond T. rex, Clash of the Dinosaurs, The Last Day of The Dinosaurs, Dinosaur Revolution, and others. The T. rex has also appeared in many video games such as the 3 Dino Crisis games, all Jurassic Park games, Turok games, Jurassic The Hunted, Tomb Raider Anniversary, Carnivores Dino Hunter (for iPod) and many others. T. rex has is often nicknamed "King of the Dinosaurs" due to its name, size, and ferocity. Featured Article - February 2010 in February 2010 Because this is a featured article, it has a video. This video is made by pika247 thumb|350px|right Category:Cretaceous Category:Theropods Category:Dinosaurs Category:Dinosaurs of North America Category:Dinosaurs Category:Carnivores Category:Theropods Category:Cretaceous Category:Dinosaurs of North America